1 "Observe the month of Abib by keeping the
Passover of the LORD, your God, since it was in the month of Abib that he
brought you by night out of Egypt.

2

You shall offer the Passover sacrifice from
your flock or your herd to the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses as
the dwelling place of his name.

3

You shall not eat leavened bread with it. For
seven days you shall eat with it only unleavened bread, the bread of
affliction, that you may remember as long as you live the day of your departure
from the land of Egypt; for in frightened haste you left the land of Egypt.

4

Nothing leavened may be found in all your
territory for seven days, and none of the meat which you sacrificed on the
evening of the first day shall be kept overnight for the next day.

5

"You may not sacrifice the Passover in any
of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you;

6

only at the place which he chooses as the
dwelling place of his name, and in the evening at sunset, on the anniversary of
your departure from Egypt, shall you sacrifice the Passover.

7

You shall cook and eat it at the place the
LORD, your God, chooses; then in the morning you may return to your tents.

8

For six days you shall eat unleavened bread,
and on the seventh there shall be a solemn meeting in honor of the LORD, your
God; on that day you shall not do any sort of work.

9

"You shall count off seven weeks,
computing them from the day when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

10

2 You shall then keep the feast of Weeks in
honor of the LORD, your God, and the measure of your own freewill offering
shall be in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.

11

In the place which the LORD, your God, chooses
as the dwelling place of his name, you shall make merry in his presence
together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite
who belongs to your community, as well as the alien, the orphan and the widow
among you.

12

Remember that you too were once slaves in
Egypt, and carry out these statutes carefully.

13

3 "You shall celebrate the feast of Booths
for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor
and wine press.

14

You shall make merry at your feast, together
with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and also the Levite,
the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your community.

15

For seven days you shall celebrate this pilgrim
feast in honor of the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses; since the
LORD, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in all your undertakings,
you shall do nought but make merry.

16

"Three times a year, then, every male
among you shall appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he
chooses: at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks, and at the
feast of Booths. No one shall appear before the LORD empty-handed,

17

but each of you with as much as he can give, in
proportion to the blessings which the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.

18

"You shall appoint judges and officials
throughout your tribes to administer true justice for the people in all the
communities which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

19

You shall not distort justice; you must be
impartial. You shall not take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes even of the
wise and twists the words even of the just.

20

Justice and justice alone shall be your aim,
that you may have life and may possess the land which the LORD, your God, is
giving you.

21

45 "You shall not plant
a sacred pole of any kind of wood beside the altar of the LORD, your God, which
you will build;

22

nor shall you erect a sacred pillar, such as
the LORD, your God, detests.

1 [1] Abib: "ear of grain, ripe
grain," the name of the month in which the barley harvest fell,
corresponding to our March and April; at a later period this month received the
Babylonian name of "Nisan."

4 [21-⇒ 17:7]
This section seems to be out of its proper place, since it interrupts the
natural sequence of the laws for the judges (⇒ Deut
16:18-20; ⇒ 17:8-13). It probably belongs
to the similar section, ⇒ Deut
12:29-⇒ 14:2.